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Tuesday, August 15, 2017

A modern take on a historic pictograph representing the solar eclipse of Aug. 7, 1869. Metallic pencils (gold and silver) on black composition paper.

Cloud On Fire

Eclipse Is Time For Prayer

By Dakota Wind

Bismarck, N.D. (TFS) – The Húŋkpapȟa
Lakȟóta call the solar eclipse Maȟpíya Yapȟéta, or “Cloud On Fire.” Other
Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires; Great Sioux Nation) tribes have different
names for the eclipse, many calling it Wí’kte (Sun Killed). The New Lakota
Dictionary, 2nd Edition, has a few entries for eclipse as well: Aháŋzi
(Shadow) and Aóhanziya (To Cast Shadow Upon).

On August 7, 1869, North America
experienced a solar eclipse. One group of Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna Dakhóta, under the
leadership of Matȟó Núŋpa (Two Bear), camped outside Psíŋ Oyáŋke (lit. “Rice
Place;” Fort Rice) for the occasion. Throughout the summer, the officers and
soldiers told and retold the Húŋkpapȟa and Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna about the impending
occlution. Dr. Washington Matthews, the post surgeon at Fort Rice, remarked about
the palpable anticipation the month before the eclipse[1].

The day of the eclipse, however, found
the Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna not filled with excitement or anticipation, rather, they
were filled with a quiet reverence. Some loaded their pipes for prayer, others
lit sage, burned braids of sweetgrass, and others offered cedar as their
incense. Some of the Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna discussed the eclipse with the soldiers at
Psíŋ, the soldiers in turn explained the science of the eclipse. After the sun
returned, the Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna solemnly departed the fort.

The Swan Winter Count records the solar eclipse of 1869.

It is worth observing that not one
Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna winter count ever mentions the 1869 solar eclipse. The
Chandler-Pohrt Winter Count (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna) details a black circle for 1867
but the accompanying text and interpretation relate that this entry refers to a
death (the filled in black circle can represent death, night, moon, or winter,
within context). They undoubtedly saw it, but chose not to record it.

That same day, Aug. 7, 1869, some of the
Oglála at Fort Laramie viewed the solar eclipse alongside the soldiers
there. Matȟó Sápa (Black Bear) and recorded the eclipse on his winter count as
a black circle with a few stars. The Oglála contended that the solar eclipse
was in fact a great uŋȟčéǧi (monster; i.e. “dragon”) that swallowed Aŋpétuwi (the Sun) [2].

Concurrently, at Iyóȟaȟa Ipákšaŋkšaŋ
(lit. “Winding Waterfall”)[3], the present-day
waterfalls at Sioux Falls, SD, astronomer Cleveland Abbé observed a large
presence of Iháŋtȟuŋwaŋ (Yankton) were present for the observation. Abbé made
no further note of visitation with the Iháŋtȟuŋwaŋ, but did record that their
attention to the non-native reaction was equal to their observation of the
eclipse itself[4].

When a rainbow appears in the clouds like this, the Lakȟóta call it Wíačhéič'ithi, which means, "The Sun makes a campfire for himself." This was taken on the day of the partial solar eclipse in 2014, as seen from North Dakota.

At the same time, at Whetstone Agency in
Dakota Territory, DC Poole, an Indian agent and physician, thought to increase
his standing among his charges (it was the era of paternalism) by telling them
he would take away the sun on Aug. 7, 1869, until he chose to bring it back.
The eclipse came as he predicted (he took his prediction from an almanac). The
Sičáŋǧu (lit. “Burnt Thighs;” aka Brulé) and Oglála watched the eclipse
impassively until the occlusion reached its climax, at which point they drew
their guns and fired, dispelling Poole’s "medicine." The doctor might be able to
predict the event, but the Lakȟóta could dispel it. Poole wasn’t a real
medicine man after all[5].

According to Oyúȟpe Wiŋ (Drags Down
Woman; sister of Chief John Grass) the Sihásapa Lakȟóta were hunting on
Makȟóčhe Wašté (lit. “The Beautiful Country;” Great Plains), when the eclipse
occurred, “It became very dark. The medicine man told them all to fire their
guns at the sun or it would never awaken again and they would be lost in the
darkness. So everyone fired their guns at the sun and yelled very loudly, and
wailed and cried and prayed. Finally, the sun began to get brighter and finally
came to life again.[6]”
This narrative indicates that this band of Thítȟuŋwaŋ regarded the eclipse as
though the sun had died. They called it Wí’kte (lit. “The Sun Died”).

A partial solar eclipse as seen from North Dakota in 2014.

The Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ Dakhóta (lit. “Leaf
Dwellers;” Wahpeton) at Portage la Prairie and Griswald in Manitoba informed
anthropologist Wilson Wallis in 1923 that the solar eclipse served as a warning
to prepare for disaster. The eclipse signified the end of the world; or that
great conflict was soon to break out in the world. Also, a lunar eclipse
signified the same warning. The luminaries, Aŋpétuwi and Haŋwí (the
Moon) favor the Dakhóta and give them an early warning to prepare them[7].

Maǧáska (Swan), a Mnikȟówožu (lit.
“Those Who Plant By The Water) Lakȟóta man and winter count keeper, seems to be
the only one who outright recorded that they experienced fear when they
witnessed the 1869 eclipse[8].

Does the solar eclipse serve as a
warning of calamity and war? Is a great dragon devouring the sun, or is it the
false medicine of a white man? The eclipse is a call to remember the mystery of
creation. I imagine that the Dakhóta in Sioux Falls were amazed at the
non-native reaction to the sacred balance of light and darkness of the eclipse,
wondering, perhaps, why such regard couldn’t be held for Makȟóčhe Wašté, for
each other, and for their fellow human beings.

What do the Lakȟóta and Dakhóta do
during an eclipse? Some fired guns. Others felt an inexplicable fear. Others, a
need to prepare for war. The Húŋkpapȟa pray. The Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna pray. They pray
for others in that sacred moment. The sky is visibly wakȟáŋ, it is with-energy.
They burn incense to carry their prayers.

Lekší Cedric Good House (Húŋkpapȟa; Standing Rock) maintains the tradition that the solar eclipse is a time of prayer, and to reflect.

The Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation and the
Native American Mint have teamed up to produce a silver coin with a face value
of $1.00 to mark the eclipse event. The coin is regarded as legal tender, but
only on the Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation. The face side of the coin
features a map of the western hemisphere with the path of the moon detailing
the eclipse. The reverse features an image of the moon in front of the sun.
There is absolutely nothing cultural about the coin in its imagery.

The next solar eclipse over North
America will be on April 8, 2024[17].

Friday, August 4, 2017

"Crying Hill," or "Mandan Hill" can be seen in the middle of this photo, the Missouri River down below, city development behind in the distance.

Crying Hill Endangered

Site Overlooks River, City,
Interstate

By Dakota Wind

Mandan, N.D. (TFS) – A hill rolls above
the floodplain where the Heart River converges with the Missouri River. It
divides the city of Mandan from traffic of I-94. It loudly proclaims “MaNDan”
on its east face in bright white concrete lettering; the south face of this
same plateau says the same but with trees spelling the city's name.

It’s the home of the Mandan Braves,
named after the indigenous people who lived there on the banks of the Heart
River as traders, fishers, and farmers. The Nu’Eta, as they call themselves,
could defend themselves when called for as well. They lived in fortified
villages in the Heart River area from about 1450 to about 1781.

Each village had a civil chief and a war
chief to advice and look after their interests. The Nu’Eta were productive and
hard-working. They must have been doing something right; their villages
possessed no jails.

Welch's notations on a 1911 US Geological survey map. Bismarck and Mandan have grown considerably in the hundred+ years since.

The village along the banks of the Heart
River in present-day Mandan, ND was large, with a population of perhaps as many
as 3000. Its identified mainly as a Nu’Eta site, but the Hidatsa claim the
populace as their own. The Hidatsa became neighbors of the Nu’Eta sometime
around 1600 C.E., and inter-married with them over the centuries that today one
isn’t Nu’Eta without having Hidatsa relatives.

This large village was known by many
names. The Nu’Eta called it Large and Scattered Village. The Hidatsa called it
the Two Faced Stone Village for the sacred stone feature atop the plateau
overlooking their village. Crows Heart, a principle leader of the Nu’Eta,
informed Colonel Alfred Welch that that they called the village there in
present-day Mandan, “The Crying Hill Village.” Crows Heart also essayed to
Welch that they called it so because their women went to the top of the hill to
mourn for lost relatives.

Another village there, south of the
Crying Hill Village, called Motsif today, was known by the Nu’Eta as Youngman’s
Village. According to Welch’s informants, the Nu’Eta of both these two villages
would gather together and inhabit a winter camp in the timber on the floodplain
of the Missouri River[1].

According to the late Mr. Joe Packineau,
the Crow separated from the Hidatsa at the Crying Hill Village, adding that the
village was also called the Tattoo Face Village, and further, that it was
Hidatsa, not Nu’Eta. In the time of Good Fur Robe, he had a brother whom they
called Tattoo Face. A hunt concluded with a dead bison recovered from the
middle of the river. Good Fur Robe divided the kill and took the paunch, which
infuriated Tattoo Face and his people, who picked up and moved west. According
to Packineau, the Hidatsa called them not Crow, but “The Paunch Jealousy
People.” Where the Crow broke away from their Hidatsa relatives was at the
Crying Hill Village[2].

Welch drew this diagram mapping the features of Crying Hill. Visit the Welch Dakota Papers site.

At the top of Crying Hill were stone
features (including a stone turtle effigy measuring twelve feet across), sacred to the Nu’Eta, upon which were images or pictographs, which
changed, and were said to be able to tell the future. One oracle stone in
particular, was said known as the “Two Face Stone.” When diviners gathered
‘round to interpret the stone’s musing for the future, they would lift the
stone, which seemed to them to be very light. Upon putting it down, they would
lift again, and the stone mysteriously weighed more than one could lift. They
called this stone Two Face because of its dual nature, and according to Welch’s
informant, the village below was called “Two Face Village.” Enemy Heart, an
Arikara man, estimated the side of the Two Face Stone to be a diameter of about
18 inches[3], it’s location, at least
in 1912, was lay just east of the Morton County Courthouse in Mandan, ND[4]. Enemy Heart insisted that
the Crying Hill Village’s proper name was Two Face Village.

In the 1870’s, as the city of Mandan developed
on the remains of the Large and Scattered Village, or Crying Hill Village, or
Tattoo Face Village, Two Face Village, homes and streets encroached on Crying
Hill itself. One day, a prospective home owner, took dynamite to the sacred
stone on the hillside of Crying Hill and blew it up[5]. Welch contends that the
greater oracle stone was drilled and split by white settlers for building
stone. One resident, Mr. G.W. Rendon built the basement of his house from
fragments of this holy stone[6].

There used to be a burial ground at
Crying Hill. In 1933, laborers of the city of Mandan were expanding development
of the city for two new houses, and disturbed the graves of eleven Nu’Eta men
and women, including a baby. Col. Alfred Welch was called on to offer his
assessment of the findings, and he estimated that the size of the Crying Hill
Village at about 3000 souls, and was occupied for about 300 years[7], from ~1500 C.E. to about
~1800 C.E. The bodies were hastily buried, possibly due to the haste in which
the survivors departed the Heart River villages in 1781 following the smallpox epidemic
which struck them.

This reconstruction of the 1863 Apple Creek Fight is overlaid on 1850's Warren survey map.

Crying Hill overlooks one of the largest
conflicts in Dakota Territory history. In 1863, General Sibley led ~2200
soldiers into Dakota Territory on a punitive campaign from Camp Pope in
Minnesota. The campaign concluded at the mouth of Apple Creek, on Aug. 1, 1863,
when Sibley withdrew from the field of conflict, unable to pursue the Lakȟóta
across the Missouri River. The Húŋkpapȟa, led by Black Eyes, crossed the
Missouri River where the Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge spans the river, and
thence up the Heart River to escape pursuit.

A week after the Apple Creek conflict,
Black Eyes brought the Húŋkpapȟa back across the Missouri River and re-crossed
the Missouri at the northern most mouth of the Heart River (which had three
mouths at that time), and camped above the floodplain opposite Crying Hill.
During the night, miners from Fort Benton, MT came down and camped on a
sandbar. The next morning the miners tried forced themselves on a Lakȟóta woman
who had gone down to the river to refresh herself. She died at the miners’
hands; Black Eyes retaliated and the Húŋkpapȟa warriors awoke and hurried to
the river’s edge and exchanged gunfire with the hostiles. During the fight, the
boat’s swivel gun misfired into the boat itself causing a fire to break out.
The miners were killed to the last man, and there precious gold was scattered
about the sandbar[8].

The Mandan Historical Society features this photo of the "Mandan Hill" in the summer of 1959. Visit the Mandan Historical Society today.

In 1934, a local Boy Scouts troop
arranged forty-seven truckloads of local stone into giant letters which spelled
out “MaNDan,” on what became renamed “Mandan Hill.” It was maintained by the
Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the Mandan Jaycees over the years, then in 1968,
after Interstate 94 (I-94) was complete, the “MaNDan” sign was reconstructed in
concrete. In the late 1990’s, pine trees were planted on the south face of
Crying Hill arranged to spell “MANDAN[9].”

Sometime in 2003, Mr. Patrick Atkinson, acquired
4.7 acres of what remained of Crying Hill, to save it from development.
Atkinson heard that the property was going to be put on the market, and he
dashed up to Crying Hill after hearing a little about the lore, and provoked by
his own winter memories of sledding down the face of Crying Hill. He took his
son to the site to talk about what it meant to them. They concluded to save
what they could. Atkinson maintains that the Crying Hill preservation effort is
ecumenical and non-political, preserving the site for the sake of the
sacredness and inspiration found there by native and non-native alike[10]. Visit Atkinson's site about Crying Hill.

In 2008, Preservation North Dakota
declared that Crying Hill was endangered. To be declared endangered, a site
must be of historical, cultural, or architectural significance and in danger of
demolition, deterioration, or substantial alteration due to neglect or
vandalism. Preservation North Dakota acknowledged the preservation efforts of
Atkinson and the Crying Hill preservation coalition for saving Crying Hill for
the edification and gratification of future citizens.

[1] Welch, Alfred, Col. "Good Fur
Blanket Was Mayor Of Mandan In 1738 - Proof Is Found Of Ancient City On Present
Site." Mandan Daily Pioneer
(Mandan), April 14, 1924.

Monday, July 31, 2017

A lichen covered red granite stone rests in the earth about halfway up the plateau at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. Not evident in this photo of this stone, but a rut runs through the half which is exposed to the elements.Mandan Woman Turned Into StoneTrees Grew To Honor Her BraveryAs told by Capt. Henry Marcotte (ret.)Bismarck Tribune, Reprinted Dec. 15, 1922 as “The Clump of Trees on The Hogback”Mandan, N.D. (TFS) - Fifty years after the construction of Fort McKean and Fort Abraham Lincoln, Captain Henry Marcotte (ret.), shared a story of sacrifice and remembrance regarding a Lakȟóta war party leader, a Nu’Eta (Mandan) man, and a beautiful Nu’Eta woman.

In 1872, Marcotte was serving at Fort McKeen as the Chief of Scouts. In his first summer of service he witnessed many ambuscades carried out on the north side of the newly constructed fort. Marcotte also witnessed the brave responses of the Fort McKeen Detachment of US Indian Scouts - namely, the Sahnis (Arikara). On the evening of November 3rd, Marcotte was invited to sit and smoke with the Sahnis, Hidsatsa, and Nu’Eta, and heard the tale of Black Hare, a Nu’Eta woman.

They had gathered just outside the north side of the palisades of Fort McKeen. It was the custom of Plains Indian men and women to sit on the ground in treaty, in council, at home, and in prayer. Men sat with straight backs and legs crossed; women sat with their knees together, legs tucked under and back, heels to one side. On this day, however, only men were present, and Marcotte undertook to sit on a rock that had been rolled into the circle.

At this gathering, though all spoke different first languages, Marcotte watched and listened to the men speak carefully and deliberately, testing the friendship of all gathered. Sergeant Young War Eagle began the afternoon with a pipe and passed it onto each man calling out his name, who responded in the affirmative.

By 1910, five trees remained on the top of the plateau, where once was Fort McKeen.

When it was Marcotte’s turn, Young War Eagle recognized him as an officer, then pointed at the rock upon which Marcotte sat. Young War Eagle explained that Marcotte sat on the petrified remains of the Nu’Eta woman known to them as Black Hare. It was to recount her story that brought them together that day. Marcotte doesn’t mention whether or not he removed himself from his perch, but it would have been good manners to do so, and to apologize for his faux pas. Young War Eagle and the men gathered apparently took no offense, and the sergeant recounted the story of Black Hare, as Marcotte noted, “in pleasing tones.”

Black Hare, a young woman, was renowned by many nations near and far for her great beauty. She turned down all her suitors for the simple reason that she didn’t want to leave her village there overlooking the floodplain of the Heart and Missouri Rivers. According to the Sitting Rabbit map of the river, this village was called Watchman’s Village, which today is known as On-A-Slant.

A Thítȟuŋwaŋ (lit. “Dweller On The Plains”; Teton; Lakȟóta) man whom the Nu’Eta knew as Crow Necklace, a leader amongst his people, approached the Nu’Eta and wanted Black Hare for his woman. She declined. Crow Necklace then threatened the Nu’Eta leader with death, to be carried out by sundown, if Black Hare wasn’t brought to him.

The Mandan leader, “To’sh” according to Marcotte’s memory and spelling, induced Black Hare to go walking with him, and on this walk, he took her to where Crow Necklace was lodged, and turned her over to the Xa’Numak (Nu’Eta: lit. “Grass Man”; the Nu’Eta word for the “Sioux”). When To’sh returned to the safety within his palisaded village, he contrived to tell his people that Crow Necklace abducted Black Hare.

The Nu’Eta suspected To’sh’ insincerity, and the other leader of the village - for each village each had a civil chief and a war chief - ordered To’sh to be buried on the spot up to his neck for his disingenuity. The other Nu’Eta leader then made the very threat to To’sh that Crow Necklace made earlier that day, saying that if Black Hare wasn’t here by sundown, To’sh would die.

By 1922, only one tree remained on the plateau. This photo was taken in the 1930s following the CCC's reconstruction of the three blockhouses. A last tree, dead, can be seen in this image.

From a distance, To’sh saw Black Hare returning to the village, her feet wounded and bleeding. Marcotte’s recollection didn’t tell readers why Black Hare would return in this condition, but other first nations of the Great Plains knew by cultural understanding that when a Lakȟóta man stole a woman from another tribe with the intention of making her his wife, he removed her háŋpa (her moccasins) so that she would be less likely to return to her people. Makȟóčhe Wašté (lit. “The Beautiful Country”; the Great Plains, and by extension, North America) is fraught with uŋkčéla ( little cacti). In this story, Black Hare was a strong-willed young woman to leave her captor and return.

To’sh feared that Black Hare’s return would reveal his falsehood, and earnestly prayed for her to turn into stone. Lo! Black Hare turned into a red calcined stone (as Marcotte described his seat)! A bird sang out during this transformation, and a spirit planted seeds in Black Hare’s bloody footprints. Winter spread its mantle of purity over the stone of Black Hare and her seeded tracks. The sun warmed the land and from Black Hare’s innocent blood grew trees to shade and shelter her stone memorial.

The stone is near Watchman’s Village, within present-day Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, about halfway up the plateau. When the 17th Infantry arrived, they cut all but eight trees, which were transplanted in front of the officers’ quarters at Fort McKeen. Black Hare’s stone lay on the hillside, bereft of shade and shelter. The water wagons used the stone to check and hold the rear wheels to afford the mules momentary rest.

In 1922, one last tree remained on the hilltop.

Marcotte's narrative appeared as "The Clump of Trees on The Hogsback" in The Bismarck Tribune, Dec. 15, 1922.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Nakota horses survey the landscape of Charred Wood River Country (Little Missouri River Country), also known as the Badlands, at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.The Badlands Or The PitifullandsPlace Name Of Little Missouri River CountryBy Dakota WindMedora, N.D. (TFS) – Theodore Roosevelt National Park has been a part of the National Park Service since 1947. A site or park was in talks to honor the late president since 1921, and two units of the park were set aside to remember Roosevelt, despite a superintendent’s report findings that this park was unjustified.

The western part of the state, along the Little Missouri River is scenic. Some even say it’s majestic and open, inspiring a sense of smallness, wonder, and even isolation. The character of the landscape left a lasting impression on a president, and continues to do the same to millions of visitors today.

Roosevelt split his time between Little Missouri River country and New York from 1884 to 1887. In 1887, after a hard cold winter in which Roosevelt lost half his stock, he sold what remained so that his managers wouldn’t suffer a loss. He did not spend one continuous year in Dakota Territory.

Both units of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park reside in the North Dakota Badlands. The Badlands (one word).

The Charred Wood River runs through the Pitiful Landscape.

The Little Missouri River is known to the Lakȟóta as Čhaŋšótka Wakpá, or “Charred Wood.” The Lakȟóta call a landscape by the name of the water or stream that runs through it, so Little Missouri River country is called Čhaŋšótka Wakpá Makȟóčhe, or “Charred Wood River Country.”

The landscape through which the Charred Wood River runs, is known as the Badlands. The Theodore Roosevelt National Park brochure cites the Lakȟóta word Makȟóšiča, which is “Badlands.” Makȟá means “Earth.” Šíča means “Bad.” When these two words are compounded it becomes one word: Makȟóšiča.

The visitor center proudly displays the name of the country as the Lakota know it, "Mako Shika."

The visitor center at TRNP differs in word usage from the info it publishes. The museum showcases a panel which instead tells visitors in loud orange words “Mako Shika.” Using the new LLC standard, Mako Shika becomes Makȟóšhika. Mako Shika, or Makȟóšhika comes from the words Makȟá meaning “Earth,” and Úŋšika meaning “Poor,” or “Pitiful.”

Saturday, July 15, 2017

A view of the Great Plains with Dakota-Lakota place names. South is the orienting direction on this map. Makȟóčhe Wašté means “The Beautiful Country.” This is the name the Lakota have for the Great Plains, and by extension, North America.

Lakȟóta GeographyA World View PerspectiveBy Dakota WindBismarck, N.D. (TFS) – Everyone knows the four cardinal directions. In English these are north, south, east, and west. The Lakȟóta name these four winds, or directions: Itókaǧata (South; “Facing The Downstream Direction”), Wiyóȟpeyata (West; Direction Where The Sun Sets), Wazíyata (North; Direction Of The Pine Tree), and Wiyóhiŋyaŋpata (East; Direction From Which The Sun Comes).

These four directions are represented in the medicine wheel by colors. Black may represent the west. White may represent the north. Red the east, and south by yellow. The color designation isn’t “set in stone.” In fact, some Lakȟóta employ blue or green as well. Many medicine wheels are employed oriented to the north.

Rivers and streams are often known by more than one name. For example, the Dakota and Lakota call the Cannonball River "Íŋyaŋwakaǧapi Wakpá (Stone Makes For Itself River)," and they also call it "Íŋyaŋiya Wakpá (Talking Stone River)."

The Lakȟóta memorized the landscape from a ground view perspective. The landscape was named according to the stream within. For example: Čhaŋšótka Wakpá Makȟóčhe, which means “Towering Tree River Country,” this presently refers to the country through which the Little Missouri River runs; Mníšoše Makȟóčhe means “Water A-stir Country,” which refers to country through which the Missouri River runs.

The Lakȟóta call the Great Plains, and by extension North America, “Makȟóčhe Wašté,” which means “The Beautiful Country.” The Lakota Language Consortium’s “New Lakota Dictionary, 2nd Edition,” has an entry for North America as “Khéya Wíta,” which means “Turtle Island.” Perhaps there are Lakȟóta people who call it so.

A Hunkpapa map of the Little Bighorn Fight is oriented towards the south. Attention is paid more to the layout of the camps than to how the conflict unfolded.

At times the Lakȟóta employed maps, drawing or painting from whatever available resources were at hand (i.e. paper and pencil, cloth and ink, hide and paint, on the ground with a stick). When such maps were constructed, south seems to be the orienting direction.

This map relates the testimony of Takes His Shield, a survivor of the 1863 Whitestone Hill Massacre in Dakota Territory. It was rendered by the hand of Cottonwood and is oriented to the south.

A testimonial map of the 1863 Whitestone Hill Massacre by Takes The Shield (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna) and rendered by Cottonwood (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna) was executed with the south at top of the map. Three Húŋkpapȟa maps of the 1876 Little Bighorn Fight were executed with south as the orienting direction.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

The Black Warbonnet pattern is rendered in contemporary colors on an umbrella.

Painting An Umbrella

A Provision For Shade Or PrivacyBy Dakota WindBismarck, ND (TFS): In the late 1800s, and early 1900s, the umbrella or parasol was a valued item. Lakota-Dakota men and women obtained one to provide shade in the semi-arid environment of Makȟóčhe Wašté (The Beautiful Country; The Great Plains). Men and women took their shade with them to the wačhípi (pow-wow; dances), when they went visiting friends and relatives. Young single men and women used them to provide shade and privacy when they wanted to exchange a private word in the public village setting.

This is about the half-way point. It was quite challenging to stay motivated.

The Lakȟóta call the umbrella, or parasol “Aóhaŋziya” (to cause shadow to fall upon somebody). The New Lakota Dictionary lists umbrella as “Íyohaŋzi.” The Williamson Dakota Dictionary entry for umbrella is “O’haŋzihdepi.” The Buechel Lakota Dictionary entry for the canvas of a covered wagon as “Oiyohaŋzi.”

Each additional track of the pattern took twice as long as the previous. I used a string as a compass to keep the pattern balanced and uniform as best I could.

Before the umbrella was a trade item, the Lakȟóta carried a tree limb with green leaves still attached, to provide shade for themselves on the hottest and brightest of days.

The pattern along the edge of the umbrella is one that would typically be seen on tipi liners.

The 2nd Edition of the New Lakota Dictionary lists a solar eclipse as “Aóhaŋziya,” and perhaps that is what some Lakȟóta speakers call it. The Húŋkpapȟa, however, called the solar eclipse “Maȟpíya Yapȟéta,” which means “Cloud On Fire.”

I am thinking of painting at least a few more umbrellas. Maybe a little smaller in size. This umbrella measured 60" across. I'll add a few finishing touches like nickle bells at the ends of each rib, and a few ribbon streamers from the spike. My youngest sister has offered to bead the spike in matching colors. The painting took about ninety hours to complete.